Introducing You to Rainbow Rowell

Sometimes you find an author and know instantly that you will always be a fan of their work. I had a moment like this after reading Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.


I recently joined a local Forever YA Book Club, which has fabulous picks btw. I decided to be ahead of the game and read some of the picks a few months before because ...well....I can be a slacker when it comes to book clubs (I do have good intentions though). It was through the FYA Book Club that I discovered Rainbow Rowell.

Since my move into Nonfiction and Reference Services and the fact that I have no outlet to write book reviews for work, my YA reading has tapered off some (and by some I mean it has pretty much ceased).This is one of the reasons I was keen to join the FYA book club. I will be forever indebted to FYA BC because this is how I discovered Eleanor and Park. This beautiful story of acceptance, love, and pain tore at my heart. I went back to my Goodreads Review to see what I had written and this is what I found (I read it in June): "The last sentence just shattered my heart into a billion pieces." That's not much of a review for you, but that last sentence did me in. For a waaaay better review of Eleanor and Park, check out fellow librarian blogger (and friend)'s My Fun-Size Life blog. Oooh, also read John Greene's NYT review as well! I'm such a lazy blogger, but they pretty much sum up everything I want to say...they just do it way better. 

So imagine my excitement when a lovely friend lent me an ARC of Fangirl, Rowell's upcoming New Adult book. I just knew that I would love Fangirl but I also knew that I probably wouldn't have that same euphoric feeling that Eleanor and Park left me with. I was wrong. Not only did I LOVE Fangirl, but it buried itself deep within my heart. Again, I went back to my Goodreads Review to see what I had written (I read it in July - 2 months ago): "Absolutely wonderful. I am completely in love with this book, Cath, Levi, Simon/Baz and pretty much everything else Rainbow Rowell touches." If I don't write a book review immediately after I finish the book, it is never going to happen. I should have written one (I'm kicking myself now for it), but you can read CuddleBuggery's review and relive my excitement about Fangirl .

So besides writing amazing books, let me give you another example of why Rainbow Rowell is a librarian's best friend. This woman epitomizes how wonderful social media can be for authors. I have written tons of book reviews over the years and though I can't always recall the author's name right off the top of my head, I CAN recall the authors who shared my reviews, who tweeted a thank you, or reached out in anyway through social media. Social media, whether it is Goodreads, Twitter, or Facebook, puts us all on the same playing field. Where else can you have instant contact to someone? 

Example: I tweeted this a few minutes ago, " I should be sleeping...not writing a blog about how awesome @rainbowrowell is. #librarianproblems"

Two minutes later I got this: Rainbow Rowell ‏@rainbowrowell

@LibrarianJuJu Thank you :)"

And this is not the first time that Rowell has reached out to librarians. Many of my libraryland friends have had interactions with her whether it is her favoring a tweet or joining in on our conversation. That little extra effort really makes a big difference!

If you need more examples of Rowell's awesomeness then I suggest you check out her blog post "Is Eleanor fat? Or does Eleanor just THINK she's fat?" or maybe "A Chat with Rainbow Rowell about Love and Censorship"

I probably should put a disclaimer somewhere in this post that I'm not some crazed fanatic...here: I promise I'm not stalking Rowell.

I just want you to know the awesomeness that is Rainbow Rowell.